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Not long after, Philip, having learned the truth, wished to avenge himself on Perseus, but he was not strong enough; instead, he himself died, and Perseus succeeded to the kingdom. And the Romans both confirmed this for him and renewed his father's friendship. In the times after this certain things happened, but not at all of such importance as to be considered worthy of being recorded. But later Perseus made himself an enemy to the Romans. In order that he might get a postponement of the war until he could prepare, he sent envoys to Rome, ostensibly to defend himself concerning the charges against him. The Romans did not receive them inside the wall, and having dealt with them outside the city, they answered nothing other than that they would send a consul to whom he could say whatever he wished. And they made them leave that very day, giving them escorts so that they might not associate with anyone; and they forbade Perseus from setting foot in Italy for the future. The Romans, therefore, after this sent out the praetor Gnaeus Sicinius 2.314 with a small force, for they had not yet prepared the larger one, and Perseus, encamping in Thessaly, appropriated most of it. But when spring arrived, they sent against him Licinius Crassus, and Gaius Lucretius as commander of the navy. Therefore, having first engaged with Perseus near Larissa, he was defeated in a cavalry battle; later, however, he gained the upper hand, so that Perseus withdrew into Macedonia. But Crassus attacked the Greek cities held by Philip, and was repulsed from most of them, but there were some that he captured; and having razed some to the ground, he sold the captives. When those in Rome learned of this, they were indignant, and they later fined Crassus and freed the captured cities, and those who had been sold from them and were then found in Italy, they bought back from those who had purchased them. Thus, then, did the Romans act, but in the war against Perseus they suffered many great misfortunes, and their affairs fared badly in many places, and Perseus seized most of Epirus and Thessaly. For he both assembled a large other force and, against the elephants of the Romans, he had trained a phalanx of hoplites, having reinforced their shields and helmets with sharp iron nails. And so that they would not be frightening to the horses, he constructed models of elephants that had a terrible smell from some ointment, and were terrible both to see and to hear (for they emitted a thunderous sound by design), and he led the horses continuously towards these, until they grew confident. Perseus, therefore, acquired great confidence from these things and hoped to surpass Alexander in glory and in the greatness 2.315 of his empire, but those in Rome, learning these things, sent out Marcius Philippus, who was consul, with haste. And he, arriving at the camp in Thessaly, trained both the Romans and the allies, so that Perseus, becoming afraid, remained quiet at Macedonian Dium and near Tempe and guarded the passes. But Philip, emboldened by this, crossed over through the middle of the mountains and seized some of Perseus' possessions. But advancing on Pydna, he ran short of provisions, and returned to Thessaly. And again Perseus took heart and recovered what Philip had seized, and with his navy he often troubled the Romans; and he won over allies and hoped to drive the Romans entirely out of Greece. But through his great and untimely stinginess and through his neglect of his allies because of it, he became weak again. For as the Romans' fortunes were waning and his own were increasing, he grew contemptuous, as if no longer needing allies, and did not give them the money he had promised. Therefore, with the enthusiasm of some being blunted and others deserting him completely, he grew so desperate as to even ask for a truce. And he might have obtained this through Eumenes, had not the Rhodians also sent envoys; for they, by speaking arrogantly to the Romans, prevented him from obtaining the truce. From then on the war against him was entrusted to Paulus Aemilius, serving as consul for the second time.